Category Archives: Fitness

Can you believe it’s pretty much April already?!? This year is flying by! Time definitely waits on no-one. It is my hope that those who made goals, resolutions, declarations, etc. some 85 days ago are still actively pursuing them.

That word pursue is a great word. There are a few definitions of the word. The ones I particularly like are below.

to carry on or continue (a course of action, a train of thought, an inquiry, studies, etc.).

Those definitions do not say anything about quitting err, I mean stopping. Nor do they mention anything about giving up on weight loss because of a few bad decisions.

In fact, it says just the opposite. Pursue tells you to keep going regardless of the bad decisions. It tells you to get back on track. Pursue tells you to persevere even if you don’t see the results you want…YET.

The only way you won’t see the results is if you stop pursuing what it is you said you wanted. Do something daily to get you closer to your goals. That’s all I’ve done. I did do something every day to get closer to my goals. The next day I do a just a little bit more and a little bit more.

I promise you. If you do something everyday, you’ll get there.

So no matter what’s happened in the past 84 days, it’s okay. Good or bad it’s in the past and it can’t be changed. So focus on today. Do something today to get you back in the pursuit! You still have 280 days left in this year.

It takes a lot to win. There’s no getting around that. There are no discounts for success. Success is never on sale. Winning requires preparation. I wrote about it a while ago. (Victory loves preparation)

What I found, however, is sometimes preparing to win is not enough. There have been plenty of times when my preparation to win was undone by my choices in a moment. ( i.e. I prepared my lunch for work and I still ate a calorie laden lunch in the cafeteria replete with a chocolate chip or white chocolate macadamia nut cookie(sometimes both) and a sweet tea or soda of my choice. After a couple of those moments, I realized preparing to win simply wasn’t enough. (At least for me it wasn’t.) I needed to figure out quickly how to overcome those moments.

So what did I do? I positioned myself to win. I did this by leaving my debit card at home. I did this by eating my lunch at my desk or in my car. When I had to get my lunch from the cafeteria, I brought the exact amount needed for the salad bar. ($2.98) By doing this, I was able to get through those times when preparation wasn’t enough. I don’t know if others have encountered this. But for me, it happened often during the early part of my weight loss.

It might seem a bit overboard but I had to do it. I was determined to back up my decision to lose this weight with actions that paralleled my decision.

To be honest, this still happens from time to time. Now, though, I’m better equipped to handle it. I’m positioned to win….

This year has flown by! I’m absolutely amazed that we find ourselves at the cusp of yet another year. I have to be honest. Today has been one of reflection. In reviewing my 2013 goals,I found that I didn’t accomplish all of the goals I set out to accomplish. (In fact, there were quite a few I didn’t meet!) Guilt tried to make residence in my mind but those thoughts were quickly kicked out. A lot of my goals were hit. I ran not one but two 5k races. I’ve been able to help some people find success in their weight loss. I’ve lost a good bit of body fat. So 2013 wasn’t a complete wash!

There are some of who might be in the same boat with me. You got a lot done but still feel like you could’ve done so much more. Perhaps you didn’t reach any of your 2013 goals. I understand that feeling all too well. Here’s my advice. Celebrate what you did accomplish. Understand that you’re a further along than you were this time last year. If you didn’t reach any of your goals, decide today that you will reach them. Decide, and then back up that decision with action. Make a game
plan and go from there.

What about the goals you didn’t meet? Great question! Do what I did. Make them the first goals on your list for 2014. Keep chopping the tree. I promise you if you keep chopping, the tree will fall.

Here’s to a great 2013 and an even better 2014!!!! I’m excited for the new year and hope you guys are too!

PS – Thank you all so much for following me on my journey. I never imagined this blog would have this kind of impact. For real, I started this just to keep myself accountable. Here we are a few short months later and I’m getting e-mails from people all across the country. People as far away as Israel are reading and following my blog! That is crazy to me! It’s amazing how many people win when you win. Ripples of success for sure!

Thank you all again for your encouragement, your accountability, your emails asking why I’m not writing. lol I appreciate it all!!

Like this:

This is a great time of year. We’ve officially entered the Holiday season. I’ve already seen Christmas movies on television. As wonderful as this time of year is. It’s also a dangerous time of year for weight loss. Weeks and weeks of healthy eating, working out, counting calories, etc can be undone in the last 8 – 10 weeks of the year. Especially for me. It starts with Halloween and the abundance of candy that comes with it. That gives way to my birthday. From my birthday, we speed towards Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving comes work pot-luck luncheons, department holiday luncheons & parties, sweets, egg nog, Christmas candy, etc…. The end of the year is indeed a treacherous minefield in the battle for health and wellness. If you’re not careful, the progress made throughout the year will be replaced with weight gain and feelings of guilt, shame & remorse as you head into the new year. Thus putting you behind the proverbial eight ball on January 1, 2014.

So how do you navigate this time of year? How do we make it across the minefield without stepping on a land mine? Well there’s no set way of dealing with it but listed below are some things you can do to help safely navigate the holiday season. They’re not listed in any particular order.

Water, water, water

Use smaller plates

Eat a healthy snack before going to holiday parties

Remember proper portion sizes

Create daily or weekly goals to help you maintain focus

Find an accountability partner

Limit alcohol

Don’t skip meals

Maintain fitness regimine

Keep a food journal

By incorporating some (if not all) those tips, you’ll definitely put yourself in a position to go into the new year with momentum. The goal isn’t to refrain from enjoying the holidays. However, for me, it was more important to maintain the progress I worked so hard for throughout the year.

By following these tips, I was able to maintain my weight loss through the gauntlet that is the last two months of the year. It definitely wasn’t easy but it was worth it when I met January many pounds lighter.

Enjoy the holiday season but don’t lose focus on what your goals are. Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.

I had a break in my work week yesterday and normally that is cause for concern. I have to be extra careful food choice wise. There’s something about the work week routine that helps me make great food decisions. Anyway, I was reminded how important planning & preparation is.

Here I was completely out of my normal routine. In the past, that would have made making wrong decisions easier. (Well making a wrong decision is just as easy as making a good one. But that’s a different blog) But not this time. I prepared ahead of time. I plan my meals ahead of time for the work week. So instead of having to exhaust mental energy on what to eat yesterday – Good choice?…bad choice? -, I simply ate what I prepared earlier. That removed any excuses, any temptations to make a bad decision.

What did I learn from all that? What thought was I reminded of? Victory loves preparation. My brother says that all the time. It’s so true. Victory, success (in weight loss or anything else) doesn’t just happen. You have to prepare for it. You have to plan for it. If not, surprises (like yesterday’s departure from my normal routine) can set you back.

Preparation isn’t just planning and cooking meals in advance. Preparation is packing your gym clothes and putting them in your car night before. Preparation is looking at the menu and deciding the best choice prior to getting to that restaurant. It may appear small and trivial but preparation goes a long way to ensure success.

Remember the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. (Not my quote but I absolutely love it)

I laughed at myself this morning. I joke that you’re not crazy if you talk to yourself. Now if you answer, then yeah you might be cause for concern. Well, this morning I had a full-fledged 35 minute discussion with myself during cardio. I went back and forth with myself about how crazy it was I was in the gym at 4:30,drenched in sweat and eyes that were burning from sweat and sleepiness.

The conversation turned to whether I should finish my cardio. I talked myself in and out quitting at least 5 times. Not only did I converse with myself, I switched between conversations and answered myself verbally! When I realized I was doing all that, I couldn’t do anything but laugh. It also got me thinking.

What are you saying when you talk to yourself? I know I’m not the only one that talks to themselves. What are you saying to yourself? Hopefully it’s more positive than negative. More encouraging than discouraging. You have to be a cheerleader for you. Sounds corny but it works. I cheered for myself (Verbally no less) while on the elliptical machine. So much so verbally that the guy next to me thought I was encouraging him to finish and did an extra 10 minutes he said. He had no clue I was talking to me!!

I know I’m not the only one who talks(and answers) Who else has conversations with themselves?

Like this:

I’m so excited! I found the secret to weight loss success. It’s not a pill that melts belly fat or makes your legs smaller. It’s not a specially formulated juice. Nope it’s not even sold for $19.99. So you don’t have to act now or hurry before the offer expires.

As a matter of fact, the secret to weight loss is not found in stores. Nor a pill bottle, nor a beverage bottle. I didn’t find it in the health food store. Nor did I stumble across it in a special extract from some exotic flower.

This secret to weight loss is extremely powerful! Drastically altering the lives of those who have it. It allows you to overcome all obstacles that stand in your way. When properly used, the secret to weight loss can lead to success in other areas of life. The best part about the secret? No list of things that could go wrong if you take it. You know, “Warning this may cause drowsiness,diarrhea, vomiting, night time sickness, day time sickness…. blah blah blah” It’s 100% fail proof!!!! I’m so confident in the miraculous powers of this secret to weight loss, that I’ll personally give you your money back if you’re not satisfied with the results!!!!!

By now you shouldn’t be wondering how much it cost? Or how much is shipping? Hopefully you’re so anxious to know what is that you’re about to go crazy because I’m dragging this out. Okay Okay… For those who want to know the secret, I’ll tell you and I’ll even tell you where to get it.

If you’re sitting down, I need you to get up. If you’re standing, I need you to make your way to the nearest mirror. Close your eyes. Open them. Look deeply in the mirror. Take a deep breath and realize that what you see in the mirror is the secret to weight loss.

BOOM! There it is! Right in front of you. The secret is YOU!!

You have everything already in you to be successful. You just need to discover it inside you. There are no gimmicks. No shortcuts. All you have is you. Your will, your drive, your passion, your commitment to you. You know what? That’s the real secret key to your success. It’s completely up to you.